SELLOUT CROWD WATCHES CHARITY INTRA-SQUAD GAME AT BELL CENTRE

21,273 to watch an intrasquad game. That’s new, even for the heated up atmosphere of Montreal hockey.

The Bell Centre was sold out at five dollars a ticket with the proceeds going to the Fonds Avenir Lac-Mégantic in aid of the victims of the Lac Mégantic disaster. Included in the five dollar ticket price was a hot dog, bag of chips and a soft drink.

The game was what you might expect on the fourth day of training camp; scrambly, tentative and cautious. But nothing was going to dampen an enthusiastic family oriented crowd that came to simply have a good time on a Saturday afternoon.

For the record the White Team beat the Reds 2-1 on goals by rookies Martin Reway and Stefan Fournier. Tomas Plekanec scored for Red Squad.

Standout veteran was Max Pacioretty who had five shots on goal and was a constant presence around Team Red goaltenders Peter Budaj and Zach Fucale. The line of Pacioretty/Desharnais/Briere contributed eight of Team-White’s 26 shots. Carey Price and Dustin Tokarski shared goaltending duties for the Whites. (Lineups Below)

Among the prospects, Reway, who will be returning to the Gatineau Olympiques early next week and Fournier had some good moments as did Louis Leblanc who is trying to come back from an injury plagued season with the Hamilton Bulldogs. Another rookie, Charles Hudon also had some good moments and produced two shots on goal.

Fournier, a native of Dorval, is a 6’3” undrafted graduate of the Halifax Mooseheads where he scored 35 goals last season. The Canadiens signed him to a three-year entry level contract as a free agent on July 6th. He is ticketed for the Hamilton Bulldogs this season. His goal, through Peter Budaj’s five-hole, would have been stopped by the extended goaltender pads of last season. As part of this year’s rule changes, two inches have been trimmed off the top of each pad, in effect creating four inches of space.

The Canadiens will start their exhibition schedule Sunday night against the Buffalo Sabres.